


a welcome home

by Meridas



Series: warm, unalone (come settle down) [2]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Domestic Fluff, Genderfluid Mollymauk Tealeaf, Multi, Pre-Mollymauk Tealeaf/Caleb Widogast, Pre-Relationship, Queerplatonic Molly/Yasha, Queerplatonic Relationships, Slice of Life, pre-Yasha/Zuala (Critical Role)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-20
Updated: 2020-01-20
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:13:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22330882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meridas/pseuds/Meridas
Summary: Yasha has to leave sometimes, following the Stormlord's call away from the buzz of modern Zadash. But the important thing is she always comes home, and Molly is always there for her.
Relationships: Mollymauk Tealeaf & Yasha
Series: warm, unalone (come settle down) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1607398
Comments: 13
Kudos: 112





	a welcome home

There’s music coming from their apartment again. It never fails to make Yasha smile, no matter how tired she is when she gets home. And it is home, finally—it’s taken her quite some time, maybe, but since Molly is here, she can call it home. 

The music gets louder as she opens the door, knocking the snow off her boots as she steps inside. She can also hear the vigorous clanking and clattering from the kitchen, and the heartfelt though perhaps less than perfectly pitched voice of her partner singing along. She takes off her coat and her boots, slowly leaving the outdoors on the floor. She’s had a good walk-about, this time. The Stormlord leads her to interesting places, but she’s also happy to be home again. 

“Hello, sunshine!” Molly greets her when she wanders into the kitchen. He’s got something sizzling in a pan on the stove as he sways and sashays around their small kitchen. Yasha waits until he sets his knife down before she comes in and greets him with a kiss on the head. 

“Hi, Molly,” she says. His tail waves happily through the air, patting against her hip as he scoots around her to wash his hands. 

“Did you have a good time?” he asks, reaching to turn the music down. “You look half frozen, dear. There’s mulled wine on the back burner if you’d like some.” 

“You’re a treasure,” she says, patting him back as she moves past him. Their apartment is small, but they’re used to that. They’re good at living with each other and moving around each other by now. The space doesn’t matter—it’s _theirs_ , hers and Molly’s, and it’s the most comfortable Yasha has ever felt. 

Molly makes his spiced wine strong, and it warms Yasha’s bones right up. She leans against the doorway and watches Molly cook, prancing around the small kitchen and throwing things into the pan apparently at random as he hums along. 

“Guess who came by the shop while you were out?” he asks, shooting her a gleaming smile. 

Yasha hums. “Did he have red hair, talk about cats, and make you forget how to speak like a normal person?” 

Molly wrinkles his nose at her. “Okay, Caleb _did_ come by, but you’ve already missed all the embarrassing things I said over that and I’m not going to recount them again.”

“I’ll ask Jester,” Yasha says with a deceptively peaceful smile. Molly is almost always so ready with endless bullshit that it makes it infinitely more amusing to her when he swallows his own tongue around someone he has a real crush on. One time Caleb came into the shop clean-shaven, and Molly couldn’t find a coherent sentence for nearly twenty minutes. 

“In _fact,_ ” Molly says loudly, “a certain pretty lady came in. With _flowers_. Asking for _you_.” 

Yasha gulps her wine down too fast. “Wh—” she coughs, her nose burning with alcohol and spices. Molly watches her smugly. “You—when? What did—” she hacks again, then manages to take a deep breath. “What did she say? What did _you_ say? Did you—” 

“I put your flowers in a vase,” Molly interrupts, taking pity on her, “and she left you a note. It’s on the table, go see.”

She hadn't even noticed the flowers when she first came home. They're colorful and lovely, sitting in one of Molly's carnival glass vases on their coffee table. Yasha doesn’t know very much about flowers; she only knows the ones inked on Molly’s skin or painted on his cards. But she knows immediately that she likes these flowers, and her smile grows as she unfolds the little note that came with them.

“What else did I miss this week?” Yasha asks as Molly comes and joins her on the couch, carrying two bowls. “Anything fun?” 

“Not much, actually.” Molly plops down next to her and swings his legs over her lap. “Oh, I do have some new pieces I’ve been going over at the shop, a couple of things I think you might like.” He leans forward to snatch the remote from the table, then squints slightly as he looks around the room. “I _have_ been saving the new series of _The Great Vasselheim Bake Off_ until you got home. Have you seen my glasses?” 

Yasha reaches over his shoulder and plucks the latest battered pair from the back of the sofa. “Well, you didn’t lose these while I was gone, at least.” She slides them on his face and ignores the tongue he sticks out at her. 

As much as Yasha likes the sporadic trips that the Stormlord sends her on, enjoys proving herself and chasing storms, she loves this part of her life just as much. After the carnival disbanded, she and Molly hadn’t really expected to settle down in one place. But they’ve made it work, in their own way, and most importantly they stayed together. Maybe there are parts of their life on the road that they both miss, sometimes, but now there are also habits like this, she and Molly sprawled out across each other on their couch, moving from dinner to ice cream and wine as their favorite shows keep playing. 

Molly nods off with his head on her stomach, her fingers running through his hair. Chuckling quietly, she turns the TV off, stacks their bowls on the table, and then picks Molly up and carts him off to bed. He wakes up enough to mumble, but she still dumps him gracelessly on the bed so that he’ll bounce and squawk at her. She laughs at him and leaves him to get his makeup off and shuffle out of his ridiculously tight pants on his own. 

As much as she likes the outdoors, she’s so happy to settle into the big bed with all of the blankets and pillows and various soft things Molly has collected and made into practically a nest. “Welcome home, Yash,” Molly mumbles, scooting up against her. Yasha lifts her arm up to let him wiggle closer. 

“I’m glad to be home,” she whispers back. 

She falls asleep easily, with Molly purring sleepily under her arm, familiar sounds and smells around her. This is where she’s home, and she wouldn’t give this up for anything.

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first in a series of little vignettes I'd like to continue, that will eventually feature more relationships and members of the Mighty Nein. But mostly, it'll be about two ex-circus kids being platonic soulmates in a modern world. I hope you liked it, and I'd love to hear your thoughts! <3


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